What to Do if You Think the Appraisal District Over-Assessed Your Home Value
If you think the appraisal district over-assessed your home value, hopefully this blog post will help you navigate what to do from here. This is for the folks living in East Texas, but I imagine there are similar steps for you to follow wherever you live as well.
If you live in East Texas and you believe your assessment is TOO HIGH, this process will need to be followed by May 15th:
Obtain supporting documentation (photos, comps, market data, etc.) on why you believe your property was over-assessed
Contact your local appraisal district to see if you qualify for the e-protest program. If you do, complete the "online protest" form to begin the process.
You will then be notified to either meet with an appraisal district appraiser to reach a resolution OR be given a date and time to attend an Appraisal Review Board (ARB) meeting. At this time, you can request a copy of the evidence the appraisal district has to justify their assessed value.
At the ARB Meeting, you will need to bring your documentation and present your case. The appraisal district will also present their case to the ARB at that time.
You will then be notified of the ARB's determination of value.
If you are dissatisfied with the determination of value after the ARB meeting, you may then hire legal counsel and begin legal remedies in filing suit against the appraisal district.
Your best bet will be to have comps that show what the TRUE MARKET VALUE is. That's where I come into play as a real estate agent. I’m here to help with any and all real estate needs! I am more than happy to provide a Comparative Market Analysis on your property in the event you need it so you can provide documentation showing why you believe your property has been over-assessed!
As a side note, the appraisal district can only increase your assessed value by 10% each year OR the current market value...whichever is less! If your market value ends up being much higher than the assessed value, the appraisal district will go with the 10% increase. We are currently still in a seller’s market, and I’ve had several folks who were surprised by how much their home’s market value had increased. This is obviously a perk to selling property, but it’s not a perk when it comes to having to pay taxes on your home’s assessed value.
If you would like for me to run comps on your property (whether for this reason or another reason), please fill out this form. You can just put "N/A" if something isn't applicable since we are just needing comps and not looking at listing your home.
Here are a a few links that may be helpful to you as you navigate this process:
Feel free to pass this blog post along to anyone you know who's frustrated with their assessed value! As always, I'm here to help with all things real estate related no matter what it is. My heart behind these blog posts is to simply add value to the lives of those around me. No strings attached.
Kristin Koonce Burroughs, REALTOR®
(903)241-2608
kristinkoonce@gmail.com
BOLD Real Estate Group